MIDWINTER

Too bad, because this is a charming bit of old Anglo-inspired folk music that would have yielded the group a modest career had they chosen to hang on. There’s no drums here and very little rhythm to speak of; instead, the trio employ mandolin, recorder, Jews harp, dulcimer, acoustic guitars and a banjo for an altogether timeless sound that should appeal to just about any fan of folk music. There’s an electric bass for some reason, but otherwise these songs would have been more at-home a hundred years or more prior to the seventies.

The tempo is mellow throughout with old-English themes and no sense of urgency whatsoever. The guitars and mandolin set the pace on most tracks, with Child’s recorder and the occasional Jew’s harp for variety.

Among the more interesting tracks are a rare three-part harmony rendition of the Anglo classic “Scarborough Fair”; a short string- picking ditty named “Dirge” that’s anything but; and an absolutely exquisite and vocal-heavy “The Two Sisters” that suffers only from a slightly muddled mix of Child’s voice midway through.

These tracks were originally recorded as demos, and languished in Saul’s attic for more than two decades after Child’s left the group and Saul and Corrick moved on to Stone Angel. The sequence of events after that is a bit unclear, but when the Stone Angel albums were reissued by Kissing Spell in the mid-nineties this album managed to make an appearance as well. It has since been released by Si-Wan as well. Unfortunately the band’s later work was never captured on tape, so there’s little hope of any additional material from this little gem of a folk aberration from the early seventies. If you are a folk music fan of any sort, this one is worth seeking out. Four stars and well recommended.

peace

The opener "Sanctuary Stone" presents the pretty voice of Jill Child, and it is immediately clear that this is a quite puristic medieval oriented folk record. Some light percussions accompany the classical guitar chords, and the only modern instrument here is the amplified bass guitar. "To Find A Reason" has tender male vocals, an acoustic guitar, a pretty simplistic flute a totally wonderful descending melody, and is one of the brightest highlights of the album for me. "The Skater" has a Celtic sound on the guitar and vocal melodies. The voices have a slight echo on them creating a feeling of large space, and the droning rhythm is accompanied by a mouth harp, flute and tabla drums. The "Scarbrough Fair", which was made famous for the bigger audiences by the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel, is here arranged for several vocals in a rustic ancient style. "The Oak Tree Grove" is then a bit similar tune with the album opener, and "Dirge" sounds like an animistic ritual music, having a primitive guitar, tambourine and a flute. Though the basic melodies of "Maids And Gentleman" is also medieval styled, there's some soloing with electric guitar from the blues scales here, slightly breaking the dogmatic line of the record, but still being pleasant for the ear. "The Waters of Sweet Sorrow" is then another beautiful tune for several acoustic guitars, and as it's accompanied with the sweet singing and brilliantly composed verse, it's no wonder that this song's name was selected as the title of this album. "All Things are Quite Silent" is played with raw, ancient sounding mandolins, and when they uinte with soft female voice, an interesting contrast is borne. This song brought me a visual association of a small medieval European village covered in wintertime snow. "The Two Sisters" has a nice conversation dialogue with the guitar and tender flute, and it also has both male and lady vocals. Later also distorted but silent solo guitar accompanies this religious themed composition. The album is closed with "Winter Song", which is a quite simple but has very beautiful arrangement for guitar and several voices, bringing up great choral harmonies at the end of it.

My interest towards this record was caught by it's cover, which is a painting named "The Lady of Shalott" by a pre-raphaelitan painter John William Waterhouse. This scene is from a poem by Arthur Hughes, and the basic principle of pre-raphaelitan artistic movement was to look back in time when seeking inspiration and themes. The romantic folk music of Midwinter does the same, so the cover painting selection fits here better than wonderfully. This record is recommended sincerely to fans of both folk music, and to those who are interested of bands with a lady singer on lead vocals.